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Entrainment of the circadian clock within the rat suprachiasmatic nukleus during fetal and early postnatal development
El-Hennamy Essam, Rehab ; Sumová, Alena (vedoucí práce) ; Novotná, Růžena (oponent) ; Mourek, Jindřich (oponent)
All mammals exhibit daily rhythms which persist in non-periodic environment with a period close to 24h. These rhythms are entrained to the 24h day mostly by the light-dark cycle. These circadian rhythms are controlled by a clock (pacemaker) located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus. In the rat, the circadian clock within the SCN develops gradually from prenatal to postnatal period and is supposed to be synchronized mainly by maternal signals. However, the rat SCN is sensitive to light immediately after birth. The aim of the present work was to investigate the mechanism of entrainment of the circadian clock within the rat SCN during fetal and early postnatal development. The specific questions were whether and when the immature fetal and neonatal molecular SCN clocks can be reset by maternal cues, and whether and when the external light-dark cycle (LD) can affect the developing circadian rhythms. The role of light-dark cycle in the development of the photoperiodic entrainment during early postnatal period was also examined. Experiment no. (1): Pregnant rats were maintained under a light - dark regime with 12 h of light and 12 h of darkness (LD12:12). At gestational day 20 (E20), the fetuses were sampled throughout the day under either LD12:12 or constant darkness (DD). The...
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